At this time the order of the day, in camp, was as follows:
| 5.55 a. m. | First call. |
| 6 a. m. | Reveille roll call. |
| 6.05 a. m. | Setting up exercises. |
| 6.20 a. m. | Mess. |
| 7 a. m. | Police camp. |
| 8 a. m. | Guard mount. |
| 8.30 a. m. | Drill. |
| 11.30 a. m. | Inspection of quarters. |
| 12 m. | Mess. |
| 3 p. m. | Drill. |
| 6.15 p. m. | Mess. |
| 7 p. m. | Retreat roll call. |
| 9.30 p. m. | Tattoo. |
| 10 p. m. | Taps. |
All the men contributed to the mess from their pay, so that the meals did not consist solely of salt pork and hard tack. In the mornings the drill covered the manual of carbine or saber drills, and pistol practice by squad or troop, also dismounted drill by the Troop; this drill lasted as a rule two hours. The afternoon drill as a rule extended over three hours, and was chiefly in outpost and skirmish work. One platoon would start, under the command of an officer, telling the general direction it would take, and having gone a certain distance would establish outposts of an imaginary camp, twenty minutes later a second platoon would start on a march through the country, throwing out flankers and advance guard. The men of the two platoons wearing different colors on their hats so as to distinguish them. Up hill and down dale the men would crawl their way until the crack of the pistols would show that one platoon had been unmasked. Then it was left to the officers to decide which side had the best of the manœuvres. While two platoons were thus engaged a third was always left in charge of camp. Each morning half the Troop would be taken over to the rifle range for pistol and carbine practice.
One piece of work had been done by the Troopers, during the early days of their stay at Camp Hastings, that has not been referred to. It was a squad of City Troopers that went over the triple muster rolls of the entire quota of Pennsylvania volunteers, for Major Thompson, and their quick, accurate work helped greatly in the rapid mustering-in of the men. When he discharged these Troopers from further duty, Major Thompson wrote a cordial letter to Captain Groome, giving the Troopers high praise.
And so the days passed on. Sometimes the Troopers felt that their peaceful camp life was pretty slow, but as the drills became harder day by day they realized that it was not only a great school of experience, but that each day's drill was part of a general plan of their officers, that would gradually improve their physical condition and bring them to a high state of efficiency as a Troop when they were needed for active service. And so each night, when at the last note of "retreat" the guidon was taken in, they felt they had not only earned a good night's rest, but that they had learned something during the day.
PISTOL PRACTICE AT CAMP HASTINGS.
On May 25th, President McKinley issued his second call for troops, and it was announced that the men thus called for would be added to the organizations already in the field. The City Troop was to be recruited up to a complete war footing of one hundred men, and arrangements were made to notify the men upon the waiting list of the opportunity that would be thus offered. Two days later the Paymaster reached camp for the first time. Three members of the Troop were sent to Harrisburg to secure the cash, and that night the men had their first look at Government money; for in their previous campaigns, as a troop, their pay had come from the State. A Board was appointed, consisting of Major W. A. Thompson, First U. S. Cavalry, and Captain Paxton, Sixth Infantry, U. S. A., to purchase horses for the three troops of cavalry, and the last day of May Captain Groome left camp to join them in New Castle, Pa.